Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases For The Second Half Of The Year

Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases in the Second Half of 2016. I’ve included releases from July, August and early September. I’ll probably do another list similar to this in late August/early September when more release dates are available. One of my favourites, Geoffrey McGeachin’s Charlie Berlin series, will be due for a new book soon, but so far I haven’t heard anything about it.

 

Sean Black’s The Edge of Alone – July 10. The 7th in a great series about Ryan Lock, who works in private security but always seems to find himself in deep trouble. Already pre-ordered.

Scott McEwen’s Ghost Sniper – July 12. A favourite series of mine, and one of the few American military fiction authors who I don’t want to give a lesson on tolerance to. His characters are real, but so so tough. Will buy on kindle.

Ace Atkins’s The Innocents – July 12. I’m hoping that this one can recapture the awesomeness that was the early releases of this series. Has one of the most memorable sidekicks ever written in Boom. Netgalley copy.

Alex Kava’s Reckless Creed – July 26. Cute series about a man (called Creed) who trains service dogs. They are still thrilling, but I will admit to reading mostly because of the dogs.

Stephen Leather’s Dark Forces – July 28. SPIDER SHEPHERD! The best UK thriller series, in my humble opinion. My favourite series, and I always pre-order this one. (and often end up with a hardback and kindle copy.)

Jack Coughlin’s Long Shot – August 16. Excellent series about a sniper – was the first American military fiction author that I ever enjoyed. The last book made some questionable choices regarding characters and who would be featured in this book, but I’m waiting to see how this one turns out. Will order from library.

Erik Storey’s Nothing Short of Dying – August 16. I’ve already read this one! AND IT WAS SO GOOD. Expect more fapping, more hyping and lots of 5 star reviews for Nothing Short of Dying. Best thriller debut of 2016, hands down. Netgalley copy.

Chris Ryan’s Bad Soldier – August 25. The Fourth book in the Danny Black series. Each one is just as good as the previous release – all have been four star reads for me. Black is a believable character who you can’t help but root for. Will order from library.

David McCaleb’s Recall – August 30. I’ve never read McCaleb’s work before (he might be a debutant for all I know), but I saw Recall on netgalley and immediately wanted to request it. I’m trying to get ahead of my reviewing queue before I request any more, but this is high up my list of anticipated new releases. Netgalley/kindle copy.

William Kent Krueger’s Manitou Canyon – September 6. Kreuger writes atmospheric thrillers, of which I have read three or four, but I am so behind on the Cork O’Conner series I know I should just pick up the next book in the series and read my way up to these new releases.

Ranty Recs – 5 Military series that will blow your socks off!

I love books that feature soldiers, especially book series that follow the career of a soldier. Over the years I have read many books with military themes, I started off reading British series written by ex-SAS soldiers, but I quickly diversified into reading quite a few series written by authors from all over the world. This list of 5 series incorporates finished series and ones still in progress, from both the US and around the world. If you love characters like Jack Reacher, some of these series might be up your alley. I’ve included a link to the Goodreads series page, and the book cover links to the Amazon page for the first book of the series.

Geordie Sharp series by Chris Ryan

Geordie Sharp was my first exposure to a series that follows the career of a soldier, and it has stuck with me after finishing the series many years ago. Chris Ryan is an English ex-SAS soldier who has now turned his attention to writing, and the Geordie Sharp series was his first foray into writing fiction. Stand By, Stand By is the first book in a completed series of four, and each one gets better and better. The final book was like a punch in the guts while standing next to a claymore, and I was a mess of tears for a good chunk of it. While not particularly spectacular writing – Ryan’s later books are of a higher quality – this series gets an A+ for plot.

Stratton series by Duncan Falconer

Stratton is written by another English ex-Special Forces soldier and is in some ways, similar to the Geordie Sharp series. However, these books follow the career of a SBS soldier, and so much of the action takes place underwater, in boats, submarines and on oil rigs. For me, this is perfect because I love nautical themes. Stratton is a really aloof character and over the space of 8 books you get to know a little bit about him, but it’s nice to read a book in which the main character isn’t socially capable or a glory hound. There are 8 books in this series, and although it hasn’t officially been ended, there hasn’t been a new book since 2012’s Assassin. Rumours of a Stratton movie have made me very excited, but at the same time, cautious – it’s hard to portray such a anti-social but good intentioned guy. The first book in this series is The Hostage, and while it is interesting, the books get better and better.

Kyle Swanson series by Jack Coughlin

The Kyle Swanson series was the first American series that I fell in love with. It is a series of 7 books (the 8th is due later this year) with hopefully many more on the way. Coughlin is superb at telling a military action story from an emotional standpoint. Kyle is an interesting character, and he is supported by a great cast of other characters. My favourite female character in a military novel appears a couple of books into this series, and she is affectionately known as Coastie, and she is kick ass awesome! It’s refreshing having women painted as being competent in a skill that is usually considered to be the man’s prevue. As Kyle Swanson is a sniper and is attached to his special custom rifle, known as Excalibur, this series is great for fans of sniping or precision shooting.

Sniper Elite series by Scott McEwen and Thomas Koloniar

I added the first Sniper Elite book, One Way Trip, to my TBR by accident – I thought it was a Jack Coughlin book for some strange reason (I get my snipers mixed up, apparently). Sniper Elite is a newer, still ongoing series, with three books currently published. McEwen balances political intrigue and military action really well, and I find often action thrillers tend to avoid any political intrigue in fear of making it  a political thriller. I am also in love with the main character, Gil Shannon – he is the perfect blend of soldier and good guy. Some parts of this series are a little bit too ‘MURICA! for my own sensitivities, but compared to many other American action/military fiction, this is sedate. I think coming from reading Australian/UK fiction this aspect is the hardest for me to acclimatise to. I also find American novels to often have more of a team feel – as opposed to the single operator dominated British fiction – and a lot more gun loving. Overall, this series has been a solid four star earner, and I am looking forward to the next instalment!

Tom Buckingham series by Andy McNab

The Tom Buckingham series by McNab is a new, ongoing series that is more accessible than McNab’s previous works. I’ve always been a fan of McNab, I find his writing to be action packed and his plot lines tight, but felt that they sometimes lacked emotional depth. This new series rectifies that. I’ve read the first two books in the series, with the third, and latest book, waiting on kindle. The second book, Fortress, gained a rare five star rating – it was sensational. A lot of purists who loved McNab’s Nick Stone series dislike the Buckingham series because it has some feelings in it – but I think it improves the plotlines to no end. I would recommend anyone who likes fast past thrillers to pick up the Tom Buckingham series, because it is a more traditional thriller as opposed to a military thriller.

The Sniper and The Wolf by Scott McEwen

The Sniper and The Wolf by Scott McEwen, with Thomas Koloniar, Kindle Edition, May 2015, 400p.

I have been waiting to read The Sniper and The Wolf by Scott McEwen for the past couple of months. I saw it on netgalley and requested it, and was rejected. I didn’t let this deter me, I hunted down the first two books in the series and fell in love with the characters. I have reviewed One Way Trip in a previous review spree on this blog, and really enjoyed it. I pre-ordered The sniper and The Wolf on the Kindle , it was so cheap for a new release novel, and well worth the investment. I read it as part of the Bout of Books readathon.

The main character Gil is excellent, entertaining and hard as nails and in this book he works with a Russian operative who is excellently named Dragunov. Although I usually enjoy reading these books with an American team I enjoyed this installment more because there was that whole Cold War enemies working together element, and there was FANTASTIC bickering between these two hardassed men.

The action in this novel is similar to that in the other novels of the series. It of course, involves a sniper duel which is always entertaining, although is getting a little bit old, it has happened in each novel, and in reality would this happen that often? I feel stupid questioning the validity of these novels and other novels of the sort, they never pretend to be extreme realistic, however I do think that some accountability and authenticity is important. I hope the next book either has a different action sequence or some new fresh characters otherwise this series might get old fast. However at this stage it is still an enjoyable action romp.

I gave the sniper and the Wolf four stars although there were flaws with it. These books are addictive – and very easy to read . I would recommend this novel to fans of Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, Andy McNab, and Chris Ryan.

Weekly Review Spree 15/3/15

Fire Force – Matt Lynn – 3 stars – Paperback from library

Fire Force is the second novel in Matt Lynn’s Death Force series, following the exploits of a group of mercenaries headed by Steve West. I found this book to be interesting, with a plot line that isn’t too common in action novels, but the action sequences were very much the same as what you read in other books of this genre. The characters in this series are excellent – I love Dan and Nick the best, and it’s fun to actually not like the main protagonist, who I find to be hypocritical and annoying. The writing in this series is pretty average, and there was even a grammatical error on the cover of the copy I read, but I don’t read action novels for well put together literature, I enjoy them for the plot.

Endangered – C.J. Box – 4 stars – Kindle edition

I’ve been waiting for this book to be released since reading the last Joe Pickett novel, Stone Cold. I really do love this series, and after each one I wonder how C.J. Box is going to make the next book interesting, because there have been 14 books in this series prior to Endangered. As I was reading this book, I kept thinking that there was something different about Endangered, and it wasn’t until I finished that I worked out what it was. Usually the main conflict in Joe Pickett novels arises from Joe’s job as a Wyoming game warden, or from the community of Saddlestring itself, but in Endangered the conflict and action occur because of issues within Joe’s family – I’m usually the reviewer lamenting the lack of involvement of families in novels, so it was so nice to be able to read a story where the ‘big bad’ was not naughty for hurting the environment, or the people of Saddlestring, but rather, Joe’s family.

I’m a massive fan of Joe and Nate’s relationship, and this book hurt me so much. I won’t elaborate too much because I don’t want to ruin what happens, but let’s just say that this isn’t one of those books where Joe and Nate pair up and take on evil with shotguns and Nate’s awesome Special Forces background… but it is still satisfying. So satisfying.

As always I will be pre-ordering the next Joe Pickett book as soon as it comes available for pre-order on kindle. And I’m not going to consider that there won’t be another one because there has to be, or else I’ll to riot. If you haven’t read any Joe Pickett, you really should start – go read Open Season, the first of bunch. You won’t regret it. Or maybe, you will regret having to spend all your time catching up, it is a BIG series and highly addictive.

As the Crow Flies – Damien Boyd – 3 stars – netgalley copy

As the Crow Flies was an enjoyable, fast paced read. There was an interesting murder enquiry to follow and DI Nick Dixon has the makings of being an interesting character. There was quite a bit of rock climbing vocabulary in this novel which completely lost me, but I decided to push through that and I am glad I did.

The plot was tight – I didn’t guess the ending at any point of the novel, although I did work out some parts, I never figured out who killed Nick’s friend Jake. It came as a shock when it was revealed. As the Crow Flies is fast paced, and a short novel of only 200p, so there was only the single main plotline with no intersecting subplots, which I would have preferred to have.

The only thing that was missing from this novel was strong characters – as there were so few pages, and most pages were dedicated to furthering the plot. I struggled to remember people’s names, and when I did remember them, I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about them besides their relationship to Nick Dixon. I feel like the author could have given more time (and pages) to developing the characters, maybe some more dialogue between characters about their lives, or even using more description when setting scenes.

Overall I enjoyed reading As the Crow Flies and will certainly be picking up the next book in the series.

One Way Trip by Scott McEwen with Thomas Koloniar – 4 1/2 stars – hardback from library

One Way Trip has been sitting on my TBR list for over a year (and I borrowed a copy from the library two months ago that has been sitting on my shelves!), and I am so glad that I picked it up to read, because it is one of the best books I have read in this genre. The hero in this book, Gil, certainly is an interesting creation, blending the cowboy aesthetic with the tough as nails Special Forces soldier, and it works so well. Often I find it hard to connect with American characters in these novels, because I don’t share the over the top patriotism for America as they seem to always be written with. I get that it’s a good hook for patriotic Americans, but for an Australian who has studied Middle Eastern History and often doesn’t agree with American (and Australian) policy in that region of the world, I find it hard to get through political rhetoric. One Way Trip definitely does have some things that make me cringe – a love of the word Haji and a general “America good, everyone else bad” disposition, but it comes across more as believable attitudes of soldiers rather than political and racial posturing by an author.

The storyline of One Way Trip was interesting, I liked the aspect of rescuing a downed pilot who was injured and had been raped. It was interesting to think on some of the issues that this raised, for example, would the Special Forces community be as desperate to rescue the hostage if it was a man? I also liked the way that politics, the media and the military were all interlinked and affected one another. Often in military fiction the media and politics don’t seem to make much of a difference to the soldiers, whereas in One Way Trip, they were affected by outside forces.

The ending, with the final battle, was one of my favourite scenes so far this year, with some very touching and interesting moments. Certainly not believable – but I read these novels like most people read fantasy – ‘Hey, its not real, but isn’t it cool?!’ I’ve already put the next book in this series on hold at the library, and I can’t wait to get my filthy little hands on it – I want to catch up with Gil and see how he’s going with everything that happened!

Other bookish/non-bookish stuff

I’ve got a very busy week coming up this week, I’ve got two assignments and two tests to study for, and I’m already bogged down in my coursework. I’m going to spend Wednesday and Thursday getting caught up with everything. So this week I am going to limit myself to reading two novels – and only the second one once my course reading is done.

We’re also getting our carpets cleaned, which means lots of furniture moving, which does not bode well with my joints. But the BF said he would do most of it, and I just need to do things that require two people. I’m hoping my body can survive the process, but last week I spent two days doing some autumn cleaning and I almost DIED.

I’m currently reading “Breaking Creed ” by Alex Kava, and so far, enjoying it. It’s nice to read about men and their dogs, and I’m already liking the Ryder Creed character. I might need to go hunt out some more of Alex Kava’s books, because I’m certainly enjoying his one!